Ever since its introduction in Pokémon Black 2 & White 2, the Shiny Charm has been one of the most revered key items in the whole franchise. It’s easy to see why, too — in every game it appears in, the Shiny Charm boosts the odds of encountering a Shiny Pokémon. At the time of writing, the Shiny Charm works a little bit differently in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl. We’ll explain how to get the Shiny Charm, what it actually does, and why it (currently) isn’t really worth your time.
Shiny Charm Location
In Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, you can obtain the Shiny Charm the same way you always do: by completing the National Pokédex. As you might expect, that’s a tall order! There are 493 Pokémon in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, but five of them (Celebi, Deoxys, Shaymin, Darkrai, and Arceus) are currently unobtainable. As a result, they don’t count towards the completion of the Pokédex. The same goes for Mew, Jirachi, and Manaphy, but all three of these Pokémon can be found under certain circumstances. For more information, check out our Legendary Pokémon location guide! In order to complete the National Dex, you’ll have to do lots of trading between game versions. We have a full list of version exclusives right here.
If you do manage to complete this difficult task, you can receive the Shiny Charm by talking to the game director at Valor Lakefront. While you’re there, you can pick up the Catching Charm from another NPC in the building. This requires that you complete the Sinnoh Dex. Please note that you must catch every Pokémon in the National Dex to receive the Shiny Charm, but you only have to see every Pokémon in the Sinnoh Dex to receive the Catching Charm.
Shiny Charm Mechanics
In previous games, the Shiny Charm boosted your chance of encountering Shiny Pokémon no matter how you were hunting them. In Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, this extra chance only applies to hatching Eggs. More specifically, when hunting via the Masuda method, your odds are increased — from 1 in 683 to 1 in 512 (approximately). When encountering Wild Pokémon, soft resetting for Legendary Pokémon, or using the Poké Radar, the Shiny Charm is completely useless.
If you’re a full-odds Shiny hunter, that’s great! You won’t have to go through the effort of catching every Pokémon. But it also can’t be understated how much easier the Shiny Charm makes Shiny hunting. It makes it three times easier, to be exact. That being said, we think the Shiny Charm’s lack of functioning is an accident. If you check its description in-game, it specifically mentions boosting the odds of wild Pokémon. Given how many other glitches Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl launched with, it would come as no surprise that the Shiny Charm was programmed improperly.
Since the Shiny Charm’s extra luck only applies to Eggs (and since that luck only changes your odds by about a hundred), it isn’t really worth getting right now. If you love hatching Eggs, that’s fine! The Shiny Charm will still come in handy. But if that’s something that sounds boring to you, then going through the tedious task of obtaining it might not be worth your time. If the Shiny Charm is patched via a game update, we’ll be sure to let you know! In the meantime, feel free to check out our Shiny hatching guide or our Discord community. Thanks so much for reading, and happy hunting!
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